Cocktail of the Month
(from Blood & Whiskey #3)
My spouse and I have never been good at recipes, viewing them as suggestions to adapt from. Same with cocktails. This month’s drink is inspired by Robert Simonson’s Three Ingredient Cocktails (scored at McNally Jackson Books in Soho), plus the tasty “Dalloway” I sipped at the Ace Hotel’s Breslin bar (rye, lemon, ginger, aperol, soda). This is a mash-up of the two, a twist on a whiskey sour or whiskey smash.
The Road Trip
3 ounces bourbon (I used Buffalo Trace; rye works, too)
1 ounce of Aperol
1 ounce simple syrup (made from a mash of lemon, ginger and mint, simmered with sugar until reduced and thickened, strained and cooled)
Mix in a shaker of ice and strain into a small glass with a few cubes. Add a healthy squeeze of lemon, garnish with lemon slice and mint leaf. Drink with a beer chaser. For a lighter drink, add seltzer and more ice. Decorate with books and post to Insta…
Bonus drinks: Up top I mentioned the music-infused “River Blues” bourbon, which came from Dark Island Spirits, in Alexandria Bay, NY, where they age their “musically matured” spirits in a warehouse piped full of tunes. And the Manhattan in a flask came from The Great Northern, in Burlington, VT (across the street from the excellent Queen City Brewery). I kept the flask, and plan to repurpose it regularly.
